Cameras Will Not Stay Flipped: Another Very Arecont Problem

Ethan Ace

Last week, an old colleague asked if we could recommend any contact at Arecont who could help them with a camera issue. They had multiple cameras in place, all older models, maybe 3 years old, now out of warranty. The problem is, they keep flipping 180 and back again, on their own. They won't stay flipped. Firmware updates seemed to make it better, but it started to happen again.

The same day, I looked at a camera mounted outside the office, and what do you know?

A 12MP SurroundVideo 180 had flipped itself, too. Again, current firmware. No power outages or configuraton changes occurred.

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Undisclosed Integrator #1

We do not sell Arecont but we do have two sites with legacy Arecont equipment. On both sites there are random Arecont cameras in small quantities that will flip 180 for utterly no reason. While we flip it within our VMS it is embarrassing when it rights itself a couple days later and the cycle repeats. I have never seen this before on any other brand.

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Jim Elder

Indeed I had exactly this happen in a project. 4 cameras, 4 flips. This was in 2009-10 (the time is about right). Turning the monitor upside down was not a viable solution (just kidding) so we changed cameras. As I recall, the problem had to do with a firmware issue that caused the camera to reset to factory default (a loss of power would be one of those reasons, but we did not have the time to verify that). Since that time, the factory has indicated they have updated the firmware and that is no longer a problem. Are you sure there was not brownout, or momentary loss of power? That would explain the randomness of the occurrence. Also, you should check the setup of the camera and I bet that the 180 flip radio button has magically unchecked itself. Pretty simple to test this theory: simply unplug the camera and plug it back in. If it turns the image over, you have found the problem. You can then put your power supply on a UPS; or power it externally (there is what appears to be a power jack on the power supply board). Also make sure to "save to flash" (actually, that should be your first choice, then try the other stuff). Please post if you find the problem (or not).

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Chris Dearing

Ethan, does exacq and the camera config both show that the image has flipped, or are they in denial? Not sure about exacq, but some VMSes will log changes like this, maybe there is a clue in there as to what's causing it to flip out?

One other question about the IR-stuck filter, can the trigger for the day-night transition be set individually for each imager, or do they all happen at once?

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Undisclosed Integrator #5

We had the same exact issue, We ended up going to the housing and physically turning the cameras 180 degrees to fix the problem. IT was recommended by Arecont tech support to do that. we have not had an issue since then.

With so many other companies making 180 cameras now, I would sell my arecont stock as I dont see it going up.

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Undisclosed Integrator #6

Firmware updates seemed to make it better, but it started to happen again.

This is assuming you can even get the thing updated. I once had two 180 areconts at a site that needed firmware updates to "fix some issues", but the cameras would not take the new firmware. Tech support even failed when they tried remotely. What did their support do? Just closed our support ticket and gave up, leaving us high and dry.

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Michael Miller

We just had a 8MP 180 issue. Camera locked up and would not come back up until we power cycled the camera. Now the cut filters are stuck after a reboot. After some pressure Arecont RMA'd the camera (which took over 3 days to recive and $500 charge on my CC) my tech tells me the camera is used and not new. One of the lenses is not locked down and ready to fall out. Not sure this could get any worse.

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Undisclosed Integrator #7

I saw this issue a few years ago with AV 100 installed on one of the video clients. The application would connect to the cameras and reset the flip settings when the customer would log on to this particular machine. We've since uninstalled the program and the issue has gone away ever since.

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